test/retest reliability

2. What are your impressions of using test/retest reliability on an instrument that measures a state (e.g., anxiety) versus a measure of a trait (e.g., personality disorder)? What would be a better method for measuring reliability?

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2. What are your impressions of using test/retest reliability on an instrument that measures a state (e.g., anxiety) versus a measure of a trait (e.g., personality disorder)? What would be a better method for measuring reliability?

Reliability is "the consistency of a set of measurements or measuring instrument, often used to describe a test" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_%28statistics%29).

Test/retest reliability is often a more reliable method for a trait (e.g. personality disorder), which is assumed to be more stable over time, than a state (e.g. state anxiety) that fluctuates across situations. For example, if you test a group of people for state anxiety at one point in time and then tested them again, the test/retest would probably be fairly low. However, for a trait (e.g. personality disorder) this would be different and if you tested and then retested a group with a personality disorder, as the test/retest reliability would probably be fairly high, because these ...

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Discusses using test/retest reliability on an instrument that measures a state (e.g., anxiety) versus a measure of a trait (e.g., personality disorder) and what might be a better method for measuring reliability. References are provided.